Rob Verger, assistant tech editor at Popular Science, discusses SpaceX's successful launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket that propelled Elon Musk's red Tesla Roadster into orbit. The release of the car into space has prompted people to ask the question, "what now?"
Verger notes that it will take two and a half years for the rocket to orbit around the sun and end up back where it started from. It will be another five years before we could potentially see it with a telescope.
Verger says the Roadster will face significant deterioration due to radiation and a "sandblasting" of dust that will cause the car to lose its cherry red color. He talks about the vastness of space, noting it's unlikely the car would be destroyed by an asteroid.
U.S. officials granted full approval to a closely watched Alzheimer’s drug on Thursday, clearing the way for Medicare and other insurance plans to begin covering the treatment for people with the brain-robbing disease.
The planet's temperature spiked on Tuesday to its hottest day in at least 44 years and likely much longer, and Wednesday could become the third straight day Earth unofficially marks a record-breaking high, the latest in a series of climate-change extremes that alarm but don't surprise scientists.
